Barcelona president Joan Laporta has now been charged by judge Joaquin Aguirre Lopez for bribery during his initial spell as club president between 2003 and 2010.

Barcelona were at first charged with bribery regarding payments made to former referee chief Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira between 2001 and 2018.

Laporta has since claimed that Barcelona are innocent. And now, he has tagged Real Madrid as the schemers behind everything, as he claims that the Los Blancos are afraid of him.

“There is a sociological Madridismo in the centres of power. They have a lot of power. I have competed against this sociological Madridismo and I have won. They are afraid that what happened in my first stage would be repeated, we won a lot and that hurt them a lot. They suffered a lot,” Laporta said to Catalunya Radio.

“I defend the interests of Barca. The more complications they give me, the more I love Barca, and the challenges they give me.

“We are used to fighting against this. This Madridismo is in the media, in the world of sport, in the media. We have to accept this normally but as Cules [Barcelona fans] we must know that we must compete against this. They are terrified that we will repeat what that we already did, that we win everything again.

“In the Negreira case, we will see if we reach trial. I am a lawyer and I am calm because this cannot prosper. We have a very good legal team. Real Madrid fans have taken advantage of the Negreira case to tarnish the name of Barca and its history. And to destabilise us and control things.”